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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25579966">Juke Box Blues</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inebriatednovelist/pseuds/Inebriatednovelist'>Inebriatednovelist</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dungeons &amp; Dragons (Roleplaying Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dungeons &amp; Dragons 5th Edition, Gen, Half Elf, High Fantasy, Warforge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:41:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,671</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25579966</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inebriatednovelist/pseuds/Inebriatednovelist</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After reaching his dreams of becoming an idol and a musician just like his father, Victor finds that once he reached his dreams they weren't all that they were cracked up to be. Rather as boredom sets in, so to does apathy. At least that is till a half elf named Garm comes along and makes Victor an offer he can't refuse. Either Victor kills an innocent woman in debt to Garm or Garm goes after Victor's parents. Now the super star is stuck between somewhere a lot rougher than a rock and a hard place as he had to decide whats more important to him. His honor or his parents.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. “Twenty-four hours Victor, your time starts now.”</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>[Commissioned work]</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter One</strong>
</p><p>            Victor strummed his fingers across the strings of his guitar and listened to the notes reverberate through the amplifiers and the speakers flanking him on either side. This one note enough to send the crowd before him into a frenzy of cheers and roars of praise and excitement before Victor went onto strum through the strings of his guitar again. His fingers moving as quick as a lighting strike in a storm, dancing across neck and face of the guitar as he ripped through the solo. The notes coming in faster and faster as he leaned forward as if to wrestle an unseen beast summoned by his music before flinging himself backwards and throwing his hand out as electricity sparked between his fingers and shot into the air. Perhaps a byproduct of his playing or maybe just an artistic display of his own magic. Either way, it was a crowd pleaser as the audience with their breathless lungs and their unyielding hands applauded the final notes of Victor’s song.</p><p>            His metal lips parted in a smile, his teeth reading ‘Go Go Victor’ as he gripped the neck of his guitar and hoisted it off into the crowd. Upon seeing one of his fans catch it and hoist it over his head, Victor pointed him out and nodded his head.</p><p>            Grabbing the microphone, Victor surveyed the crowd for a moment and saw all the excited faces. Each one of them no doubt ready to swarm him asking for autographs or soundbites or words of inspiration. Lord knows Victor had enough of all of that. Enough that he could just as well sign his name in his sleep and regurgitate the same overused line for the same fan that was at every show. Each one of them claiming they were his biggest fan.</p><p>            When the night ended for them, they’d all go home to their lives with stars in their eyes and this memory planted into one of the happiest moments of their lives. Victor just wished he could feel the same way. The apathetic feeling of it all, the instruments, the performance, all if it just felt like another day at the office for him. Every concert done was just another few thousand into his bank account. Though he wondered why he even performed anymore what with how much money he held and how he’d never needed to worry about the cost of living throughout his entire life. Being a soul attached to a robotic form, something the locals referred to as a soul forge, it wasn’t as if he needed much to survive. Really everything was just a luxury for him at this point. But all that glittered wasn’t gold and all the happiness in the world only brought with it stagnation. So long as he had fans to disappoint though, he’d keep on playing and just try to justify every night as doing it for them since he couldn’t really do it for himself anymore.</p><p>            “That’s gonna be it for me folks, I could do this all night but I’m not sure how much longer you guys could keep pretending to be excited to see me.” Victor joked and roused laughter from everyone in the stadium. At least that much could bring a smile to Victor’s face. “Goodnight everybody I couldn’t ask for a better crowd!”</p><p>            With his closing statements done and applause to signal his exit, Victor fled backstage with his entourage already surrounding him. With a suited man in the front and another in the back serving as his body guards, a third woman came up behind Victor and helped slip him into his jacket before draping his fur coat over his shoulders. Victor winked his thanks at her with a cockeyed grin and turned to his manager to let him prattle on about the performance tonight and what all they had in store for tomorrow night.</p><p>            Something, something, something, another sold out concert, something, something, something, you did amazing. Et cetera, so on and so forth. The usual bullshit Victor heard a million and one times by now. And a just like that million and one times, Victor kept nodding his head to every question to pretend he was understanding everything that was said when he just trained himself to listen to for key details. The next show was tomorrow and it would be in a club he’d played in before.</p><p>            Upon exiting the back door, Victor took two pens to each hand before rolling up his sleeves. Splitting his arms in half, a luxury afforded by his mechanical body, he walked through the crowd signing whatever piece of paper or poster or body part his fans offered out to him. He forced a faux smile for anyone wanting to take a picture of him while pretending to look bashful when a few fans decided to take a pic of him while giving him a peck on the cheek. The lipstick leaving its marks along his metal face while a few eager fans no doubt slipped their number on a piece of paper into his coat. It was inevitable.</p><p>            Folding his arms back into place and slipping his pens back into his pockets, Victor gave one last cursory wave to the crowd before shutting the door behind him. Victor’s manager took another car for the sake of safety and the body guards ensured that they’d both be okay later tonight. The excuse Victor gave was that he wanted to make sure everyone was separate in the event they managed to attract the attention of a rabid fan but really it was just so Victor could have more than a few seconds of alone time.</p><p>            “Quite the performance Victor…” A greasy voice called out from the darkened cabin of Victor’s car. So much for alone time, Victor thought to himself.</p><p>            “Alright, what do you want me to sign and where do you want me to sign it and where can I drop you off?” Victor asked as he pulled out a pen with one hand but readied a spell with another. This wasn’t the first time he’d encountered someone a little too eager to meet him.</p><p>            “You can relax Vic, I’m not a fan I’m just here to make you an offer.” The greasy voice said as he leaned in close, his face no longer obscured inside of the shadows. The blunted and rounded features of his face and eyes along with his complexion suggested the stranger was human. The pointed ears and the sharp corners to his eyes however suggested that he was only half human at that, the other half being elf of some kind.</p><p>            Victor twirled the pen over his fingers and made it vanish beneath his shirt sleeve. Leaning back, he nodded to the man to continue with whatever pitch he had in mind while keeping a spell ready in the other hand. Victor thought to himself that this man obviously wasn’t interested in booking him out for a gig, or at least not a gig he did in well over a year now.</p><p>            “Hard to believe it’s been…” The half elf scoffed and looked out the window just as they passed a mural of Victor on the side of the building. “What a year? Two years now? The god slayer himself by the many accounts of the other islanders but here you’re just a glorified juke box, aren’t you?”</p><p>            Victor closed his hand around the spell he summoned and decided that much was too good for whatever storm drain this slimy dreg crawled out from. He’d have no issue getting his suit a little dirty with some half elf blood if it meant adjusting this guy’s face so that he couldn’t wear that blood boiling smirk on his face anymore.</p><p>            “You doin’ a shit job of convincing me to do whatever it is you need of me buddy, now let’s start with the basics, who the fuck are you cause you ain’t special if you now me.” Victor said and growled at himself for letting his accent come out as thick as it was now.</p><p>            “You’re a man who doesn’t like his time wasted, I get that, I can respect that too, so I’ll just get right down to it,” The half elf said with another smirk that looked like someone dragged their finger inside of a puddle of oil. “My name is Garm and I need you to pay my friend Amelia a visit since she owes me and my associates too much money to pay off anymore and we need to make sure that other people understand that we are not running a charity here.”</p><p>            Garm reached inside of his coat without hesitation though the same couldn’t be said for Victor who flinched at seeing the half elf’s hand vanish into his jacket. Garm produced a photograph and handed it off to Victor for him to look over. The woman in the photo obviously unaware of her picture taken as she looked off to one side without focusing on the camera. Her eyes sunk into her skull with her cheeks pressing in around her jaw line. Her hair fell in wisps and strands but thinned to a near suggestion of hair atop her head. Taking care of someone like this wouldn’t be hard. Victor knew that a man like Garm wasn’t asking for Victor’s skill in situations like these, only his presence.</p><p>            Looking back up from under his brow, Victor only got as far as cocking his brow and opening his mouth before Garm interrupted him with a response.</p><p>            “Consider this a favor from a family friend before you refuse,” Garm said as he reached inside of his coat pocket and produced a second photograph. He looked at the picture for a moment before nodding his head and sighing. “When they came to me so many years ago about you it almost broke my heart. I can’t think what it must’ve been like to lose their little boy…” Garm said and tossed the photo at Victor’s feet.</p><p>            Looking down at the picture, Victor suppressed the urge to show shock across his face as he saw a picture of his parents in the photo. A blond portly and short half elf man with his arm wrapped around a half elf woman with the same hair and the same age showing to her face. Both with a shine of life to their eyes that the years couldn’t take.</p><p>            “Cute couple by the way, they invited me over for dinner this Sunday but if you can’t follow through on your end of the deal Victor, then I think they’ll be a little late.” Garm said and his smirk only grew wider at the sound of Victor’s jaw clenching and his teeth pressing together with a grinding groan. Wrapping on the glass the separated the driver’s seat and the passenger seat, Garm opened the door to Victor’s car just as soon as it rolled to a stop. As he stepped out from the car, he poked his head in one last time and said: “Twenty-four hours Victor, your time starts now.” And punctuated his statement by slamming the door shut.</p><p>            Twenty-four hours.</p><p>            Victor slung his arms up along the back seat and lowered his head with a sigh. What did a girl like that do to deserve something like this? Victor scoffed at the question he asked himself upon realizing that the only thing really separating the two of them were a few chance encounters. If he made a few different choices in perhaps just the wrong order, maybe he’d be in her shoes. Right now, though, he wasn’t. That’s what he needed to keep telling himself. That he had a family waiting for him at home and that someone like this wouldn’t go missed. That’s all he had to keep telling himself as the night drew on and his driver left without a word. Victor knew there wasn’t any point in trying to question the guy, he’d no doubt give the usual answer that he didn’t see anything, nothing at all.</p><p>            Pulling out the photo and giving it one last cursory glance, Victor sighed and turned to the door to enter the apartment building. Reaching for the handle, he stopped short and closed his fist before pulling it back and looking to the photo. The sooner he got this done, the better. Twenty-four hours, that’s all the time he’d need.</p><p>
  <em>~Later~</em>
</p><p>            Finding Amelia’s place wasn’t hard since Victor held her photo and a few fans were more than eager enough to help him find her as well. Though Victor wondered how eager they would be if he told them the truth of his visit. Really the excuse he made was that this little lady, down on her luck as she was, needed someone like him to show her that life wasn’t so bad after all. The lie slipped out of Victor’s mouth like he was vomiting crude oil leaving his mouth stained with the taste of something fowl he could never wash off.</p><p>            Looking on the back of the photo, where one of his fans was kind enough to write the address, Victor confirmed the hovel of a home he stood before was in fact Amelia’s address. Judging by the way the roof slanted and sagged and the decaying wood of the porch with the peeling pain along the sides, perhaps she was just squatting more than living here.</p><p>            When Victor ascended the steps, he figured Amelia would no doubt know she had company with how the wood groaned and snapped in protest. Victor hoped for as much since he figured all it would take it’s the lightest tap against the door to knock it clean off its hinges. Thankful that he didn’t have to test this theory when the door parted to reveal a set of eyes beyond the threshold, Victor cocked his head off to the side and raised a questioning brow.</p><p>            “What do you want, you with the city or something?” Amelia said, her voice shaken by either fear or perhaps cold as her finger gripped the door as tight as they could.</p><p>            “Are you Amelia?” Victor asked and turned his head over his shoulder. It was well into the early morning and the only light around was that of the early morning sun cresting just past the horizon. In and out, no one needed to notice.</p><p>            “Whose asking?” Amelia snapped as she cowered further behind the door.</p><p>            Clenching his jaw once more and hearing his teeth squeak as they ground against one another Victor’s grip tightened at his sides. He felt a pressure on his chest he wasn’t even sure he could feel anymore. Looking around one last time, Victor leaned in close and cupped a hand around his mouth.</p><p>            “How much do you owe Garm exactly?” Victor whispered and watched Amelia’s eyes widen as she tried to slam the door in his face. A quick wedge of his foot prevented Amelia from shutting him out but it was also this little force that broke the chain securing the door. Figuring this was about as much of an invitation as he would get, Victor stepped inside and saw Amelia fling herself back onto the floor as she crawled away from him.</p><p>            “Please just tell Garm I’ll get him the money please I’m gonna get a good job soon and I’ll pay it all back he just needs to give me some time I promise!” Amelia pleaded as her shaking body skittered like a cockroach till her back pressed against the wall furthest from the entryway.</p><p>            “Hey hey hey!” Victor snapped as he held up his empty palms which meant little in hindsight if Amelia knew anything about him. “Calm down if I wanted to hurt you I wouldn’t be making nice now answer the question how much do you-”</p><p>            Victor paused and checked over his shoulder at the sound of car doors closing and muffled voices coming from outside. Turning back to Amelia, Victor pressed a finger to his lips, gesturing her to stay quiet. Amelia clapped her hands against her mouth and nodded her head to Victor as she watched him exit the house.</p><p>            Stepping outside, Victor saw the three men in suits before hopping down the steps and checking his watch. Rolling his sleeves down he held his arms out to either side and gave them all a cockeyed grin.</p><p>            “Fellas, I get why you might be here but I thought I still had about twelve hours to take care of this.” Victor said as he sized up the three men. All of them wearing black suits, each one with shades and a hat. Each one identical to the last making it night impossible to pick them out in a lineup. They’re here to cover Garm’s tracks, Victor thought.</p><p>            “Boss just wanted to make sure the job got done, it’s not that he don’t trust you it’s just that, well…” One of the suits said.</p><p>            “It’s that he just don’t trust you buddy.” Another suit said as he eyed Victor from under his shades and shared a laugh with his cohorts.</p><p>            Victor shared a laugh with them as he stepped closer to each. When the laughter finally died down, he turned to each one and couldn’t keep away another laugh. With a smile on his face, he rubbed a hand across his chin to try and wipe the smirk away before trying to start again and nodding his head.</p><p>            “Sorry, I’m sorry I really am, it’s uhh…” Victor paused again and took hold of the shoulder of his fur coat draped across his back, tossed the coat out before him, and struck the center man in the chest with the point of a rapier. Wrenching the blade away before the coat even hit the ground, Victor took a fencer’s stance and narrowed his brow at the remaining two men as the one in the center dropped dead to the floor. “It’s just that Garm had the right idea.”</p><p>            The two remaining suits reached inside of their coats and Victor gave pause for a single moment. He could just as well skewer one and then the other but his success depended on just what sort of weapons they might draw. Though it looked like the luck was in his.</p><p>            When the suit to Victor’s right drew his pistol, Victor struck his blade along the barrel of the gun and caught it in his cross guard to push it aside. Closing the gap to the point of both men being near chest to chest with one another, Victor twirled away from the man and flicked the tip of his rapier across the man’s neck. His blood flooded out onto the floor staining the white of his shirt while he died before he even fell to the ground.</p><p>            The third suit remained shocked enough for Victor to pull his Rapier in close to himself and poise for a perfect thrust. With a quick step and a forward leap, the tip of the blade missed the final man by only a few inches. The third suit looked all to pleased with himself as though he realized he only needed to stay just out of reach of Victor’s rapier to stay alive. Readying a counter attack, the suit leveled the gun at Victor’s head before stopping just short of pulling the trigger. The feel of a blade streaking through his ribs and into his heart and lungs stayed his hand as he slowly looked down to see the rapier was longer than he remembered. With a twisting flick of the wrist from Victor, the blade retracted down into a smaller size as the man fell to the floor dead with the others.</p><p>            Victor flicked the blade of his rapier off to one side and picked one of the bodies for a handkerchief to clean his blade. Once the steel shined like new again, another flick of the wrist allowed the blade to shrink back to something small enough to fit inside of his coat. Just behind him though, Victor sensed eyes on him and turned to see Amelia standing at her porch.</p><p>            Reaching inside the opposite side of his coat, Victor produced a small stack of bills and flicked it out with his two fingers towards Amelia. He watched her wander over like a scared and starved animal at the offer of food before taking the money and counting it off. Finally she looking to him with a shine of hope in her eyes. Her lips curled into a smile before she leaned in close and pecked a gentle kiss to his cheek before stepping away from him.</p><p>            “I won’t forget this, thank you so much.” Amelia said as she clutched the money close to her chest.</p><p>            “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t know you and I didn’t see you and I sure as shit didn’t tell you to use that money to get the hell out of here.” Victor said and watched Amelia nod in understanding before running off down the street. He hoped this would be the last she saw of this place, he hoped this would be the last time he saw her as well.</p><p>            A thought streaked across Victor’s mind at that remark causing his eyes to widen and his body to tense up as he spun around and sprinted down the opposite way. Garm wasn’t just some mook looking to push someone around, if he made a threat he sure as shit knew to keep it. Victor’s feet slammed down onto the ground as hard as his mechanical legs could shuffle. The pistons and axles firing and grinding off as the shoes at Victor’s feet ripped and tore at the sheer might of his body exerting itself beyond what a mortal could even attempt.</p><p>            His full-bore sprint might’ve been comedic what with how he sidled up beside a driver during his mad dash. The very same driver who needed to steal a glance at his speedometer to check how fast he was going or rather how fast Victor was running. It might’ve been funny, Victor thought to himself, if someone else’s life didn’t hang in the balance if he didn’t get home fast enough.</p><p>            Though he did wonder if the police would pull him over for speeding if he was running this quickly. Considering when he crossed a congregation of police cruisers out on his stroll, they either didn’t care, didn’t believe what they saw, or had their hands full with something else. Either way, he took a page from their book and decided it wasn’t his problem to worry about something like that now as he approached a house and slowed his decent to keep from barreling through the door.</p><p>            Coming up on the humble home, a stark juxtaposition to that of Amelia’s squatter den, Victor placed a tentative hand on the door handle. Pushing past the threshold, he didn’t dare make a sound for fear of what waited for him beyond this lone barrier. At the sound of the early morning news playing on the TV in the living room, Victor poked his head in and checked his surroundings. No signs of a fight, no blood, nothing.</p><p>            “Ma?” Victor called out as he shut the door behind him. “Pa? You guys home? You okay?”</p><p>            “What are you shouting about now boy!” A blond half elf man said as he poked his head out from the living room with a remote in hand. Jamiel, Victor’s father, was a portly half elf man well passed his prime years but earning his rest in his retirement as a proud father. He wore shorts belted around his descended belly with a striped polo shirt along with tube socks running halfway to his knees.</p><p>            “Vicky is that you sweetie!” Aliza, an equally aged, equally blond half elf woman called from the kitchen before coming into the entryway and upon seeing Victor, promptly took his face in her hands and pecked a kiss to his cheek. “Oooh it’s so good to see you again honey you know with that fancy body of yours you think you’d make more time for us since you don’t need to sleep, now come on to the kitchen I made breakfast.”</p><p>            “Ali you know the boy likes to keep busy, besides he doesn’t even need to eat.” Jamiel said as he wrapped an arm around his son and hugged him. His shorter stature only allowing him to press his head up against Victor’s abdomen. “You should’ve seen the look on the neighbors faces the last time you came Vic.”</p><p>            “Oh god you’re father loves telling this story to anyone that will stand still long enough to listen.” Aliza said as she did just the same with a smile on her face.</p><p>            “Hang on just… you can tell me in a second I just…” Victor paused and looked to his mother and father and noticed nothing out of place. Not a single hair on their head out of the way and their retired years lived just like any other. “You guys okay, nothing freaky happen, no one coming around or anything like that?”</p><p>            “Not besides the neighbors which reminds me!” Jamiel began before his shoulder’s dropped at the sound of the phone ringing.</p><p>            “You tell him your story honey I’ll answer it.” Aliza said as she went and picked up the phone. Moments later she furrowed her brow and handed it off to Victor. “It’s for you sweetie!”</p><p>            “Tell me the story over breakfast Pa, you know you tell’em the best.” Victor said as he walked over towards the phone and picked up the receiver. “What’s shaken cause I got some bacon waiting for me so what’s up.”</p><p>            “You might wanna turn on the news Vic,” A dark and commanding voice called out from the other line and Victor complied as he poked his head into the living room to see what the news had on display.</p><p>            Furrowing his brow at the headline at the bottom of the screen, Victor read it over and over again before it finally clicked inside of his head. Fatal car crash involving five people. EMT units found the fifth man, one half elf named Garm inside the river with lacerations around the face. The only means to identify him were the contents of his wallet and an ID card.</p><p>            “That your handy work?” Victor asked, his tone severe and his brow set.</p><p>            “You like?!” The voice on the other line said with childish excitement. “Don’t bother thanking me, you can do it in person at tomorrow’s show, I’ll be there and I won’t be too hard to find either… you know since I’ll be the only person there. See you then Vic!”</p><p>            When the line went dead, Victor hung up the phone and looked to the news then back to his parents talking and laughing in the kitchen. Whomever this was, maybe he did deserve a thanks in person. Victor doubted that’s all he’d want in return though.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. "I accept."</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter Two</strong>
</p><p>Stepping out of the car, Victor looks around the entrance of the Vynal club. Being in the center of town it was easily a hot spot for his next concert with lines normally wrapping around the block. People paid good money to get on the guest list for Vynal and even better money to the bounces to let them pretend their name was on the list. Victor figured a club like this would have the usual crowd waiting outside for them, especially with the announcement that Victor would perform tonight. Even with the lights on and a big display out front, no one waited for him besides a pair of men who looked like refrigerators wearing nice suits.</p><p>            Reassuring his driver with a wave of his hand, Victor watched the car pull out as he stepped towards the doors to the club. He didn’t bother scheduling a roadie to bring in his equipment, just a hunch told Victor he wouldn’t need it tonight. When Victor approached the doors to the club, he half expected the men to react much the same as Garm’s men did, but instead they only parted the doors and graciously welcomed him inside.</p><p>            “Please enjoy your night sir.” One of the bouncers said.</p><p>            “Your contact is waiting for you inside.” The other said in much the same tone as the other.</p><p>            Upon entering the club, Victor’s not surprised when he sees the dance floor empty with the bar unmanned and any staff either hiding or dismissed for the night. The only sound inside the bar is that of a record playing through the speakers in the building and Victor promptly realizes it’s one of his songs. The club is anything but empty however as he hears laughter of several people and the sound of a muffled voice deeper into the club.</p><p>            Making his way to the lounge, Victor takes his time to check everything on his person in a nearby mirror. He straightens out his suit coat, adjusts his hat and checks the inside pocket of his suit to feel the handle of his rapier. Checking his reflection, he can’t notice any signs that might betray he’s carrying a weapon on him. His rapier might be his best bet if he got into any skirmish.</p><p>            Soul forge like himself didn’t necessarily need rest but that didn’t mean his magic didn’t need to recharge. The stress from the night before and the stand off with Garm’s men didn’t do him any favors. Couple that with his mind running at a million miles an hour about who went after Garm and he was running on prayers and happy thoughts.</p><p>            Pulling himself out of his grooming at the sound of more laughter, Victor decides to see just what’s so funny as he ascends the steps up to the lounge.</p><p>            There, sitting at a booth with women of various races around him sits a red skinned horned and tailed humanoid man. Victor sneered at the thought of dealing with a Tiefling of all people. Especially one as well dressed as someone like him. The suit wasn’t something he wore for a night out; Victor could tell with the way he moved inside of it that it was more like a uniform. The constant shifting inside the suit, the minor adjustments he made. This wasn’t his ideal wardrobe but it was a uniform someone else made him wear. Victor wondered if the Tiefling and Garm knew each other as well. If they did, then were they rivals or did Garm just step out of line with what he tried with Victor.  If the woman around him were willing to hang off his every word, then perhaps Victor could humor him for a few minutes.</p><p>            “Victor!” The Tiefling cheered as he gestured to the women around him. “Ladies I’m sure you’ve heard of my friend, Victor this is-”</p><p>            “Don’t care,” Victor snapped, cutting the Tiefling short. “The only person I’m here for is you now let’s get intros out of the way, you know me, who the fuck are you and what the fuck do you want?”</p><p>            “Vicky boy, there are ladies present,” The Tiefling said as he took the hand of one woman and pressed a kiss to her wrist before winking. “Let’s check the language at the door alright man? You can call me Slash though, as in thank you Slash for getting Garm out of my hair…” Slash said and looked Victor up and down and murmured. “Or lack thereof.”</p><p>            “You don’t look like the kinda guy who does favors outta the goodness of his heart and you sure as sh-” Victor caught himself and sighed. “You sure don’t look like the kinda guy I can send a gift basket and we call it even. So why step in like that, why take out someone like Garm?”</p><p>            “Would you ladies mind too terribly if Vic and I have the booth to ourselves?” Slash said as he eyed each of the women and watched them pout and sidled up closer to Slash before Slash gave a mocking pout of his own. “Tell you what, I’m pretty sure the bartender is still in the freezer if you wanna let him out and have him make you a few drinks, oh and uhh…” Slash rifled around inside of his slacks, pulled out a bill fold and handed it off to one of the girls. “Drinks are on me, now get outta here!” Slash said with a playful swipe of his hand and watched the girls wave him off one by one as they stepped down into the lower level of the club. Slash gestured to the seat across from him while he slung his shoulders up around the back of the booth.</p><p>            Victor eyes the seat like Slash just asked him to play the bongos on a landmine before looking back up at him and deciding he’s made worse choices in his life and walked out fine. Taking his seat, Victor crosses his arms over his chest and cocks a brow at Slash, giving him this only invitation to speak.</p><p>            “Truth be told this has damn near nothing to do with you,” Slash said and held up his hands with the palms out when Victor cocked an accusing eyebrow at him. “Honest to god… okay almost nothing. That Garm guy he was one of us, key word here is was cause we found out he decided to go turn coat on us and big boss needed to make sure he was taken out before he could do any damage. Ironically enough, that whole stint with the shake down and the assassination was our own way of setting you up for try outs.” Slash smiled at the way Victor leaned back in his chair, his hands laying in his lap as he could see the curiosity pain on his metal face.</p><p>            “Everyone knows you,” Slash continued. “But how many more know about your stint with Ifrit, Amara, Eris and those guys?” Slash laughed as Victor’s eyes went wide before shaking away the mirth. “We know that you guys were god slayers or at least that’s the way the stories were told and we may have something a little less than a god that needs slaying.”</p><p>            “What so I take on a couple of your suits and suddenly you think I’m ready to go back and reenact some of those old stories?” Victor said with a scoff and shook his head as he stood and felt a chill run down his spine at the way Slash glared at him from under his brow.</p><p>            “Take a seat Vic, I’m not done talking to you yet.” Slash said and nodded to the seat across from him.</p><p>            “Listen, those guys you sent after Amelia were a buncha chumps, couldn’t even pour piss out of a boot if the directions were on the heel, I ain’t in the bis of kickin ass no more and I haven’t been in a while.” Victor said but didn’t dare take his eyes off Slash with the way the man regarded him. Victor was no stranger to a fight, he tried to stay sharp after everything on the island wrapped up but time dulled his edge. Now he wasn’t staring down some insane fan threatening to kidnap him, he may as well be staring down a wolf with its teeth bared.</p><p>            “I’m with the Infernal Syndicate,” Slash stated as though Victor said nothing at all. “And we’ve recently come into possession of some land, all legal I promise, but the issue were having is with a bunch of cultists that are occupying the territory right now and all other efforts to get them off our property haven’t exactly panned out while asking for outside help hasn’t given us much hope either. Your friends all said they wanted nothing to do with this gig and I can’t blame them. The Syndicate, me especially, were getting a little antsy about this place too since they keep talking about their grand leader Medusa. Were sick of throwing bodies at the problem so what we’re asking from you is to help us out and by the end of it I’m sure we’ll owe you a few favors.”</p><p>            “If you’re so antsy why not take care of it yourself hot shot?” Victor asked and eyed Slash from head to toe, searching his body for any signs he might be smuggling a weapon or perhaps might know any kind of magic.</p><p>            “Orders from big boss herself, Jo says I gotta stay where I am cause… I don’t know something about being her right-hand man or some shit?” Slash said with a scoff before reaching inside of his coat and drawing a long knife out from within. Slash’s smile only grew wider once he saw instinct hadn’t failed Victor yet as he flexed his hands out to either side to take a subtle defensive stance. “If Garm’s men weren’t enough for you to show off, then you can consider this a call back on your try out.”</p><p>            Slash lunged forward with the tip of his knife poised for Victor’s head but reflexes were a hard skill to forget. Victor raised his hand and deflected the blow and listened as the edge of the blade scraped across the back of his hand. Pushing the blade away Victor planted a foot into Slash’s chest and forced him to stagger away to give him some distance. This didn’t last as Slash went in for another strike with his knife but only just managed to spin out of the way of Victor’s rapier. The tip of Victor’s blade remained edged right past Slash’s head as he gave the Soul Forge a toothy grin.</p><p>            Raising the blade with a quick strike, Slash slipped the knife’s edge into Victor’s elbow and jammed the joint. Taking Victor’s hand and keeping the knife in place, Slash used the leverage to hoist and pull Victor around till he slammed his opponent up against the wall. The force of the crash enough to rattle the paintings hanging there while the soft plaster caved against Victor’s momentum.</p><p>            Before Victor could even snap his head back to focus, Slash’s hand already found its way to his neck as he squeezed against his throat. Victor wasn’t quite sure what Slash intended with this till he heard the groan of steel begin to bend and bow underneath his grasp. Victor’s brow raised with shock as he realized it was only a matter of seconds before Victor’s head popped clean off his shoulders. Looking to his side, he saw Slash kept hold of the knife he dug into Victor’s elbow which left arm’s free for the most part. Taking Slash’s wrist in one hand, Victor tried to rip his hand away from crushing his neck. Splitting his other arm at the elbow Victor used the newly added appendage to grab onto Slash’s other wrist that held the knife and flicked his Rapier out towards Slash’s neck.</p><p>            Using the same move Victor used just seconds earlier, Slash avoided the gouging wound by planting his foot into Victor’s chest and kicking him off while breaking his grip. Slash only managed to get away with a nick across his neck and tapped his fingers at the small stream of blood dribbling down to his collar bone. Looking at the blood staining his fingers, he gave Victor a wider, toothier smile and cackled with delight.</p><p>            “Alright! Been a while since someone’s made me bleed!” Slash said as he began to circle around Victor while spinning his knife over his finger. “That little arm trick is pretty neat too, wonder how you’d fare in a bare-knuckle brawl with those.”</p><p>            “I’m gonna try and end this quickly enough that you don’t have to find out.” Victor snapped and tried to flex his elbow. The blade sliced clean into the joint but it still flexed for the most part. Any more damage though and the arm might be useless. Slash was the bigger problem though, especially since Victor could still hear the steel in his neck groan every time he turned his neck. He’d need to end this quickly alright, but not for Slash’s sake.</p><p>            Pulling his rapier close to his chest, Victor watched Slash flinch and ready himself for what he probably thought was going to be a step and a thrust. The second part of that was true, but with the aid of a little magic, the step became unnecessary. Throwing the tip of his blade forward, the steel launched towards Slash’s position and for a split-second Victor saw the way Slash’s eyes widened. That is till he heard steel scraping against steel as the tip of Victor’s rapier edged along Slash’s knife.</p><p>            Running down the length of the blade, Slash kept his knife up against the edge of Victor’s rapier till he closed the gap between the two. Slamming the handle of his knife up against Victor’s head, Slash used this momentary distraction to place Victor’s armpit into his shoulder and hoist himself forward. Victor only had enough time to yelp as he flew up and over Slash’s back and slammed down onto the floor. With a quick twist of the wrist, Victor’s rapier went clattering to the ground.</p><p>            After feeling his back slam against the floor, Victor shut his eyes tight and wondered what kind of story he needed to tell his doctor or mechanic when he needed these dents buffed out. That was a question for another time however as when Victor opened his eyes, he saw the tip of Slash’s knife hurdling towards his head. A quick roll of his body allowed him to dodge out of the way as the blade buried itself up to the handle in the floor. Throwing his legs up and using the momentum to pull himself into a handstand, Victor placed his thighs around Slash’s head and threw himself back forward. Rolling end over end, Victor threw Slash down to the ground with a satisfying thud.</p><p>            Squirming over onto his abdomen, Victor skittered towards the handle of his rapier only for his grasp to fall short upon feeling something yank him back. Looking down, Victor saw Slash already on his feet with a two-handed grip over Victor’s ankle before he felt himself whipped around and slamming into the glass window of the second-floor lounge. The glass splintered and frayed in all directions but hadn’t shattered yet while Victor found himself close to breaking. Slumping against the wall, Victor looked up at Slash and saw the way he loomed before feeling the Tiefling snatch him up by the lapel of his shirt and yank him back to his feet.</p><p>            Victor latched his arms onto Slash’s wrists and reared his head back.</p><p>            “I wouldn’t do that if I were-” Slash spat out quickly before feeling Victor’s head smash into his and felt his shoulders slump in disappointment. “You…” Slash finished as he watched Victor pull his head away only to show a dent in his face plate. Not one to shy away from a display of force, Slash reared his head back this time and slammed his forehead, horns and all, against Victor’s face plate.</p><p>            The force of the blow was enough to send Victory careening through the already broken glass and a fair few feet in the air before his inevitable crash to the floor below. Victor rolled over onto his side and looked up to see the women from before all cowering around one another as they fled towards the door. Their curiosity keeping pace with their self-preservation as they kept stealing quick glances back at Victor and Slash after he leaped from second story lounge.</p><p>            Victor pushed off the ground and felt his body twitch and convulse in protest. Raising up his arms, he rolled his neck and heard a popping noise that shouldn’t be there and noticed the way Slash hadn’t even broken a sweat yet. Victor needed to end this and he needed to end it now. He just needed the right moment, the right bait and it looked like Victor taking up a fighter’s stance was more than enough.</p><p>            Clenching his fists in a white-knuckle grip at his sides, Slash dug his toes into the floor. Pushing off with enough force to crack the tile, Slash darted forward and looked to suddenly appear before Victor with his arm out stretched ready for a wide swung blow. The toothy grin from before becoming manic, his visage less like a wolf now and more like that of a hyena.</p><p>            “STOP!” Victor shouted with a magic projected voice. The force of his command empowered by his spell casting as Slash’s movements slowed to an eventual stop. Slash’s knuckles just in inch away from Victor’s face. This would be his only chance, Victor knew that.</p><p>            Leaping away from Slash, Victor closed his hands out before himself as though he were grasping the handle of a blade made of air. Using the platinum, copper, and zinc inside of his arm as a catalyst for the spell, Victor summoned a beam of light that took the form of blue smokeless flame. Concentrating the power of the edge, the flame bound itself to a swirling mass as he gripped tight to the ethereal handle of his arcane sword. With a war cry bellowed from deep inside his soul bound to steel, Victor slashed outward at Slash’s chest and felt the strike land.</p><p>            With that single blow, the arcane sword vanished inside of a single breath and Slash’s body flopped to the floor. Victor stood there for a moment and thought to himself that if he still had lungs, he doubted he’d be able to breath right now. Instead, he was only aware of how heavy his form was as his shoulders and knees threatened the buckle beneath his own weight. Victor thought his body might give at any moment till some semblance of adrenaline sparked through his core at the sound of dark laughter.</p><p>            Slash laid in the shattered glass on the floor of the club, his shoulders bouncing as he let out a hearty laugh while he placed his hands up beside his head. With a quick kick backwards and a push off the floor, Slash found his footing before cracking his knuckles one by one and skulking his way towards Victor. His manic laughter subsiding into a sadistic giggle.</p><p>            “How the fuck did you-”</p><p>            “Broke out of the stun at the last second,” Slash said. “Cut me a little close for comfort there though.” He pulled at the cut along his chest to show it was only a shallow wound regardless of how it ran the length of his torso.</p><p>            Victor felt a pressure on his abdomen where his stomach might’ve sat once upon a time and felt it drop out of his body. This was the only other thing he could feel besides the weight baring down onto his body from all angles as he realized Slash wasn’t even out of breath and he was all out of aces now. His magic reserves empty, his sword was well beyond reach, the impact from the second floor sent his damage joints out of place. Victor needed nothing short of divine intervention at this point.</p><p>            “HANDS UP IN THE AIR NOW!” A booming voice called out from the other side of the bar.</p><p>As fate would have it, divine intervention came in the form of the police. Victor wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth though and only raised his arms up above his head only to hear a snapping pop and see his arm bend the wrong way at the elbow Slash jammed a knife into. Slash has his own laugh about this and turns to face the officers with his hands held up in the air. The offices take both slash and Victor into custody as they latch cuffs around their wrists and transport them away.</p><p>“Shame we had to end it like this, I was really starting to have some fun here.” Slash said over his shoulder to Victor with another manic laugh.</p><p>Victor grimaces at the thought and keeps his head down and his mouth shut.</p><p>
  <em>~Later~</em>
</p><p>            Victor looks himself in the bathroom mirror of his hotel and sees the minor dents on his face. If he looks close enough, Victor can still see the imprint of Slash’s horns against his face plate. After trying, and failing, to convince himself it’s not as bad as he thinks, Victor walks out of the bathroom and plops himself down onto a chair and turns on the TV.</p><p>            “I did the best I could without taking your whole face off and running it through a roller,” The mechanic Victor called into his hotel room said as he rubbed his hands down with a rag. “I replaced the joints in your elbow and the hydraulics inside your neck.” The mechanic paused and sighed before circling around in front of Victor and crossing his arms over his chest. “The hell happened to you kid; you haven’t been in a skirmish like this in a while.”</p><p>            “Long story short,” Victor said and flicked a wad of cash out to his mechanic and the mechanic took the stack of bills and left without another word. Finding nothing of real worth on TV, Victor hops up out of his chair and opens the door to his balcony only to see several eyes peering up at him. Thinking back to what Slash said, Victor wondered just who these people were working for and how many more of them were like Garm.</p><p>            Before he could answer those thoughts, Victor heard his phone ring and stepped back inside after waving his spectators goodbye. Picking up the phone, he waited for the voice on the other line with a cocked brow.</p><p>            “Victor,” A woman’s voice said. “My name is Jo Arco and I believe you’ve met an associate of mine.”</p><p>            “Depends, does he hit like a freight train and laugh like a hyena?” Victor asked as he looked over towards the door and wondered just how much a deadbolt would hold if someone really wanted to get in here.</p><p>            “Yes that would be Slash you met then.” Jo said with a laugh. “I wanted to extend my sincerest apologies and if you’d allow it I’d also like to-”</p><p>            “I accept.” Victor cut in.</p><p>            “Excuse me?” Jo asked.</p><p>            “The island you got problems with, the gorgon or Medusa and shit, Slash mentioned you got problems and those sound-like problems I can solve.” Victor said and turned away from the door. “So I accept, let me know what I gotta do and when I gotta get it done.”</p><p>            “Tomorrow, at the docks, get there early.” Jo said before hanging up the phone.</p><p>            Victor set the phone back into the cradle and looked outside to see his spectators still standing there. For once, he was more captivated by his audience than they were with him and thought that perhaps this wasn’t going to be so bad after all. Something to break the patter, climb out of a rut, make life a bit more exciting this time. Victor hated himself for it, but he couldn’t deny the smile creeping up across his face.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. "...you have the right to remain silent…"</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter Three</strong>
</p><p>            The early morning chill of the docks frosted the exposed metal plating of Victor’s body and face. Small star patterns of ice forming over his face plate and spreading into his eyes forcing him to wipe away at his face to see five feet in front of him. The ocean spray welling up at the docks enough to frost over most of Vic’s body if he didn’t keep it covered with a few layers. With many of his joints repaired recently, he wasn’t apt to break them before the day as even out. With the sun still well beyond the horizon as well, Victor knew it would already be a long day.</p><p>            Looking around the docks, Victor notes a few ships already at port those many of the ports remain empty. Much of the ships that dock here are primitive in construction compared to the technology of the island itself relying more so on wind and sails to propel them than the magic powered steel freighters. The only being around the docks at the time is a lone figure with their back turned to Victor. Their white hair blowing in the wind as their body remains unflinching even with the ocean spray rushing up around them. Steady and almost corpse like they remain still and unmoving. Victor might’ve thought this individual might be dead had they not turned over their shoulder to stare at him with sunglasses obscured eyes.</p><p>            Victor scoffed at this, not quite sunglasses at night but damn near close to it.</p><p>            “Something funny to you?” The woman said, Victor figuring they were Jo Arco but also furrowing his brow at how she managed to hear him this far away.</p><p>            “Early bird catches the-” Victor approached Jo at the dock and noticed the fishing pole in hand and takes his seat beside her with a shrug and a smirk. “fish I guess.”</p><p>            “Well I would be if these fish would actually take a bite.” Jo muses as she yanks her line back and notices the empty hook. Dropping her shoulders with a sigh she produces a worm from a small bucket beside her, baits the hook and casts her line again. “Little bastards thinking I’m running a delivery service here…” Jo grumbled to herself.</p><p>            “Speaking of deliveries…” Victor trails off as he looks to Jo who keeps her eye on the line she cast while Victor promptly looks around for any other ship near them besides the few freighters locked into port.</p><p>            “Right, you’re not going anywhere just yet, I mean not off the island anyway.” Jo began and Victor just now noticed her wardrobe. The tan suit jacket draped around her shoulders and the sleeves of her black blouse rolled up to the elbow. The ocean wind sweeping through and only ruffling the end of her coat while Jo remained unflinching while Victor shielded his own face. “There is still plenty of work to do here before we can even think about going off island to deal with the Gorgon cult. We leave this island now and try to take on the cult in their own turf, the only thing we’ll do is hand ourselves over on a silver platter. We need to secure our borders here before we can mount a counter attack and thus far I should think the Medusa cult has the right theme in mind.”</p><p>            Victor thought about what she meant before remembering his conversation with Slash the night before. Slash mentioning that Garm was with the cultists at the time and thus needed to be disposed of but if one of Jo’s in a higher position was already working against her from the inside out, then how many more were there as well? Like a snake slithering in the grass and the venom coursing through their veins, Victor realized Jo needed someone to take the poison out before it killed her and poisoned this island as well.</p><p>            Jo felt a tug on her line with the rod bowing towards the water. Pulling hard on the line and reeling it back in, Jo yanked the lure out of the water only to find an empty hook in its place. She regarded the hook from over her shades and for the first time since Victor started talking to her, she began to emote with a twitching eyebrow in frustration. Rolling her wrist, Jo checked the time on her watch and looked out over the horizon to see the corona of the sun ready to peek. Taking the bucket of worms and her fishing pole, she stands and began walking down the dock.</p><p>            Victor hops to his own feet and trails after her before looking back over to the horizon and seeing the faint hue of the sun painting the sky a shade of purple. Turning back to Jo, Victor saw the way she kept her eyes forward with her bucket of worms in one hand and her pole slung over her shoulder in the other.</p><p>            “I’m not one to play games with this sort of thing either and I’ve lived long enough to know that my time is precious and I hate having it wasted. So when I send someone to get a job done I send the best person for it, I’m not about to send a couple of goons to handle the Medusa cult when I know one person could just as well get it done.” Jo said.</p><p>            “Well I’m flattered you think I can-”</p><p>            “Shove it you overgrown calliope; I wasn’t talking about you.” Jo snapped but kept her tone even and unyielding. “My top lieutenant Kei has gone missing recently and I know for a fact she’s not dead. If she is then I may as well hand over my territory with a signed apology letter for the Gorgon herself.”</p><p>            “Why do you say that?” Victor asked.</p><p>            “To put it in perspective for you,” Jo said and flicked the dent in Victor’s face plate left from Slash. “The reason why Kei is my top lieutenant is because she’s leagues stronger than even Slash. Slash trying to fight Kei may as well be you trying to fight Slash,” Jo said and read the expression on Victor’s face from over her sunglasses as she realized that Victor fully understood. “I saw the footage from your brawl, so I need your help pulling my men back in so that we’re not just throwing bodies at the problem here. The first thing I need you to do is to find this Amelia girl, I’m curious as to why Garm wanted her dead so badly and why he’d send someone like you to take care of her instead of one of his suits. That woman wasn’t even a blip on my radar till Garm brought her to my attention and I’ll also need you to figure out where Slash is being held and break him out of prison.”</p><p>            “Okay Amelia I can understand trying to find her, easy enough but Slash?” Victor began and looked out to the city and wondered if there was ever a prison to even contain a man like that. “Somethin tells me if he ain’t already trying to work his way out someone like you might have a lot better sway at getting him outta there with a few less bodies to burry.”</p><p>            “I suppose you’re right about that, but I’m already too busy as it is, I have to tend to my lemmings and figure out just how deep the Medusa cult is inside of my organization. So the way I see it, there will be bodies to bury regardless but I figured a charming young tin can like yourself could ensure to keep Slash on a short leash.” Jo said as she snatched at Victor’s necktie and yanked him forward before shoving him away. Just then a car pulled up to the docks and a man stepped out from the back to open the door for her. Handing off her fishing gear to the man, Jo stepped inside the car and lowered her glasses once more to show her eyes shifting to a ruby hue that glowed in the shadowed cabin of the car. Her lips curling into a smile wide enough to display the over developed canines sharpened to a razors edge. “Come find me after you’re done Vic, oh and one more thing, if you fail this, I will melt you down into a new fishing rod and use what’s left of you to make hooks.”</p><p>            Before Victor could retort, the door slammed shut by the man who opened it in the first place and the car drove off into the city. Victor stood here with a semi smirk on his face he wasn’t aware was there till he ran a hand across his chin. Palming across his neck at the image of those fangs, Victor found himself grateful that he didn’t have flesh anymore before readjusting his eye where Jo yanked him forward.</p><p>
  <em>~Later~</em>
</p><p>            Getting an early start to the day didn’t help matters any since Amelia may have just taken his advice and skipped town or even the whole island. He checked the neighborhood where Amelia lived, or perhaps just squatted, but found no real traces that she was ever there to begin with. Asking around for her wasn’t apt to give Victor any more results either since everyone in the area always gave Victor the same answer. They don’t know anything and they didn’t see anything. The only other man who might know where Amelia might be hiding would be Garm but considering he booked a permanent stay at the city morgue; he wasn’t much of a talker these days.</p><p>            Even if Victor could find someone with a Speak With The Dead spell to loan or teach him, the corpse Slash left behind wouldn’t work. With how he went toe to toe with Victor, Slash probably didn’t leave much of a face left for a corpse to speak. On top of that, there was no way in hell someone inside of a morgue would just let Victor walk straight through the doors with the excuse that he had a few questions for this particular corpse.</p><p>            Then again, Victor thought to himself, perhaps he wasn’t on the wrong track with that idea. Maybe Garm wouldn’t be much of a talker, but there were still plenty of others who might be just as willing. A man like him easily made it a point to piss off a few people and maybe scare a few more to keep in his pocket. Perhaps some might be grateful enough for his death that they’d be willing to spill a few details about Amelia. Maybe even what Garm wanted with her to begin with. Victor doubted, at this point, it had anything to do with money right about now.</p><p>            Feeling his phone buzz inside of his pocket, Victor rolls his eyes and checks the caller ID to see it’s his agent calling him again. After the fiasco at Vynal and the bust that became of his show, Victor’s agent kept breathing down his neck. To him it was all about keeping an image up, keeping the shows going, making sure that things kept to the way they were for the past year. Victor, however, wasn’t worried about any of that now. Not only because he knew better than to not take someone like Jo seriously with her threat, but also because for the first time in a year he found himself excited to wake up in the morning. Even with how inappropriate it felt to think such a way.</p><p>            Before he let the call go to voicemail, Victor remembered his first meeting with Garm and wondered just how he managed to get inside of his limo in the first place. Flipping open the phone, he presses it to his ear and waits for his agent to rail into him. After a verbal drubbing about how his image is going down the toilet, about how these venues are pissed he didn’t show, about how he can’t even bother to answer his phone anymore, Victor finally gets a word out.</p><p>            “Ya done?” Victor asked as he began walking back to town.</p><p>            “Yeah… yeah I think I’m good, you good, you okay?” Victor’s agent asked.</p><p>            “Yeah about as good as I can be, listen things are gettin kinda crazy around me lately so you’re just better off cancelling the shows for a while I got shit to handle here.” Victor said and stopped as he looked onward at the cityscape off in the distance. “The guy that handled the drive a few days ago, that one show at the stadium, is he free?”</p><p>            “I uhh, I can check?” Victor’s agent said. “Why what do you need?”</p><p>            “I just need a ride, came here to check up on an old friend and stuff I’ll send you the address.” Victor said and hung up the phone without another word and texted his agent the address.</p><p>            Once the car arrived, Victor wasted no time getting to the point. The moment the driver stepped out of the car to open the back seat for him, Victor took the man by the head and slammed it hard against the roof of the car before yanking him back and shaking him back to focus.</p><p>            “My agent tells me you were the one drivin the car when Garm showed up a few days ago, mind telling me what that’s about?” Victor demanded as he hoisted the man up by the collar of his shirt.</p><p>            “I don’t know what you’re talk-” The driver began before feeling Victor’s head slam against his and Victor’s cold eyes glare into his soul. The blow to his head wasn’t hard enough to render him any more harm than a slight cut along his forehead where blood began to dribble and split down the bridge of his nose.</p><p>            “You’re going to tell me what you know or I can find out myself and once I start probing inside of that bowl of oatmeal you call a brain you best not lean to one side cause it may just start drippin out your ears.” Victor snapped as he held his forehead close to the drivers and set his brow against him.</p><p>            “I… I don’t… I…” The driver stammered and watched as Victor rolled his eyes and whispered something in another language while pressing a copper piece to his forehead.</p><p>            Victor’s vision focused on the man before him with the periphery fading out as he began to hear the thoughts coursing through the man’s mind. Panic, fear, pain, all these surface level thoughts he could otherwise hear with a basic use of Detect Thoughts. There was one other thought that stuck out to Victor though, a name that kept coming up even on the surface of the man’s mind.</p><p>            Garm.</p><p>            Probing further into the man’s mind, Victor heard him scream distantly but the sound of the driver’s thoughts drowned out his anguish as he pulled deeper into the man’s mind. Further into his mind there was more to wade through. A stadium of thoughts and voices and memories to sort all at once. Victor narrowed his eyes to hone his concentration knowing that if he stayed in here any longer his concentration would break and he’d have to start all over again. Focusing on key words sticking out to him, Victor found another thought among the mass. Not quite a thought, a memory.</p><p>            Victor’s driver pulled up beside a fancy restaurant and he watched the memory play out through his eyes. Looking to the side the driver saw the sign that read “Jiro” before turning around and seeing Garm’s greasy mug stepping out of the car. Garm stepped around to the side of the car and the driver lowered the window before the two exchanged a few words. Whatever they said, Victor couldn’t tell as his concentration began to fade and eventually break.</p><p>            Pulling the copper piece away from the man’s head, Victor’ let the driver drop to the floor before straightening out his coat and looking around the neighborhood. Victor thought they’d eventually get pretty tired of him leaving bodies on the sidewalk and decided to shove the driver in the back seat and slam the door. Stepping into the driver seat, Victor took off towards the city, wondering just what he’d find at Jiro.</p><p>
  <em>~Later~</em>
</p><p>            As it turns out, what Victor would find at Jiro was a line damn near around the block with a Goliath bouncer standing guard at the door. If Jo threatened to make fish hooks out of Victor, this guy would no doubt make a few dumbbells out of him if the two got into things. Palming across his face plate and feeling the dents still present, Victor wasn’t looking for another fight anytime soon and decided to play things naturally. Stepping out of the car, he waved his hands out to either side at the sight of a few people that recognized him with a brimming smile across his face.</p><p>            “Ayyyy, what are you guys doin here I haven’t seen you since the last show!” Victor said to his fans as he pointed at the lot of them and gestured them towards the door. Victor took the keys to the car and tossed them at the Goliath bouncer and watched him catch it without flinching. “Hey buddy what do you say you take the night off and join us for a few huh?” Victor said as he reached inside of his coat and pulled out a not too modest stack of bills.</p><p>            The Goliath looked down at the bills and then back up at Victor before taking the offered money with a scoff and a smirk. One massive hand pushed the door inside and gestured Victor and his entourage through the door.</p><p>            “You’re an absolute doll, what do we say to the big scary mountain lookin guy?” Victor said to his crowd as they all echoed their thanks. “Oh and be sure to take that girl around the block a few times would ya, she needs her exercise!”</p><p>            With a crowd around him fawning over his every word and even a split second of eye contact, Victor may as well be invisible despite the noise the crowd made around him. Most of the patrons kept to themselves, only passing Victor a sneer before gesturing over to whomever they were dining with and laughing at some joke shared between the two. Victor scoped out the area and found himself a booth for the lot of them and gestured everyone to take a seat as he found himself right next to the stairs leading to the second floor.</p><p>            “Alright, I’m gonna get some drinks in, what are we havin tonight ladies and gents? Put your fuckin wallet away getoutahere with that!” Victor said and checked over his shoulder at the chefs sharpening their knives at the counter. Some of them sparing a glance towards Victor, others only sneaking in a few glares where they passed him. “Alright, I gotta pay my respects real quick and for the rest of the night I’m all yours, I promise.”</p><p>            Victor spared a quick glance at his entourage and then another at the chefs and a few of the help. None of them really looking at him as he danced up the stairs and headed towards the back offices before barging through the doors. There he saw a full Elf beyond what Garm was as a man. If Garm was greasy, this man was smooth. Swooping features along his nose, cheeks, and jaw, pointed ears with sharpened eyes that snapped over towards him as Victor interrupted the call the Elf.</p><p>            “I’ll call you back…” The Elf said as he set the phone back into the cradle and stood to greet Victor. The man wore a chef’s smock with the collar undone and a few stains across the front. He offered out a clean hand and a dirty smile to greet Victor as he entered. “Jiro, nice to meet you, I believe you’re the famous Victor I’ve heard so much about recently.”</p><p>            “Catch a few of my shows have ya?” Victor said as he slapped his hand into Jiro’s and shook it firmly. “Or maybe you’ve heard my named tossed around by Garm.”</p><p>            Jiro sour smile twisted into cracking scowl like the veins of lava creeping up from beneath the earth’s crust. Jiro yanked his hand back and crossed his arms over his chest.</p><p>            “So you’re an… acquaintance of my late friend Garm.” Jiro said and cocked a perfectly sharpened brow at Victor.</p><p>            “You could say that, yeah.” Victor said as he plopped himself down into a chair across from Jiro’s desk. “He had me looking for another… acquaintance of his by the name of Amelia.”</p><p>            Jiro looked away at the mention of the name causing Victor to lean forward in his chair. Victor’s elbows resting on his knees while Jiro ran a hand across his taut cheeks.</p><p>            “Yeah, she’s been a little trouble for Garm, I’m glad he’s got someone like you to handle it though, shouldn’t be too hard with a charmer like yourself.” Jiro said and returned to that dirty smile. The way his teeth showed like chips inside of a freshly forged knife.</p><p>            “Well I just wanted to know a few things about Amelia that’s all.” Victor said.</p><p>            “Just owed Garm some money, that’s all I’m sure you really need to know.” Jiro said and kept his eyes locked on Victor, his brow lowering as his eyes narrowed in on him.</p><p>            “Sure cause black mailing me and then sending a couple of thugs to handle the rest is cheaper than-”</p><p>            A gunshot rang out, cutting Victor’s words short. The ping and the hiss left Victor looking down at his chest to see the scratch mark from a bullet ricocheting off his front chest plate leaving Jiro stunned with eyes sinking back into his perfect face. Victor found it such a shame then to mar it with his knuckles as he grabbed Jiro’s gun by the barrel and forced it to the side. With another hand, Victor cracked his fist against Jiro’s head and snatched at his collar to bring him back. Jiro’s nose sat crooked across his face while Victor scowled and kept tightening his grip over the gun barrel.</p><p>            “You fuckers, if it wasn’t for that damn Tiefling Garm would still be alive!” Jiro growled as he tried to pull the gun up form Victor’s grasp.</p><p>            Victor, meanwhile, realized that if Jiro knew Garm this well then he may as well be working for the Gorgon cult themselves. Keeping one hand at his collar and another at Jiro’s pistol, Victor smacked his face against Jiro’s and left him unconscious. Pulling the pistol from his grasp, Victor pulled the trigger and sent a round through his head.</p><p>            Just behind him he heard sirens blaring and the lights flashing and thought to himself that the police around here have impressive timing. Or rather maybe it was because the bouncer at the front door found the unconscious body inside the car.</p><p>            With a sigh and a grumble, Victor tossed the pistol into Jiro’s lap and started down the stairs as the police poured in through the door.</p><p>            “Hey hey hey hey! C’mon what’s going on here?” Victor said, trying to play the innocent card.</p><p>            “Sir are you aware that there was a man, unconscious, in the back of your car?” The police said.</p><p>            “I mean I didn’t exactly check but uhh…” Victor looked to his entourage and then back to the police before an idea struck him. Perhaps playing it anything but cool would be the best idea. If Slash knew enough about Garm to take him out, maybe it was better that he get a persona audience with the Tiefling himself. “Alright, listen none of these folks here did nothing wrong you wanna question me till you’re blue in the face go for it but they’re stayin here.”</p><p>            “Very well, you have the right to remain silent…” The officer said as she cuffed Victor and led him out through the restaurant before shoving him inside the cruiser waiting for him outside.</p><p>            Victor wasn’t too happy to deal with Slash of all people again, but thus far, he couldn’t deny the heat burning inside of his chest or the smile creeping up across his face. If nothing else, this would make for one hell of an autobiography.</p>
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